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STORY-TELLING IN THE 
HOME 



PREPARED BY 

WILLIAM BYRON FORBUSH, Ph.D., Litt.D. 

PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF CHILD LIFE 

IN CONSULTATION WITH MANY AUTHORITIES 

UPON THIS SUBJECT 



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MONOGRAPH OF THE 

AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF CHILD LIFE 
1714 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia 



Monograph 



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A DUTCH ..RANDMOTHKR TELLING STORIES WLl H IHK HKLH OK THE 
PICTURED TILES 



STORY-TELLING IN THE HOME. 

"World-old and beautiful stories, 

Which I once, when little, 

From the neighbor's children have heard 

When we, on summer evenings, 

Sat on the steps before the house-door. 

Bending us down to the quiet narrative 

With little listening hearts." — Heinrich Heine. 

The Value of Story-telling— Stories that Children Like— How to Tell Stories to 
Children — Continued Stories — The Relation of Stories to Play — How to 
Tell Bible Stories — Story-Telling Devices — Where to Find Stories — Stories 
in the Home — References. 

The Value of Story-Telling. 

Of late we have come to take story-telling seriously. It is one of 
the oldest of arts and one of the most valuable. 

"Everything argues," says Dr. Richard M. Hodge, "that the story 
is par excellence the language of childhood. Children love a story as 
they do no other form of address. It is their most characteristic form 
of expression and our most direct and successful means of conveying 
to them our ideas. Stories are pictures of life and moving-pictures, 
talking pictures, colored pictures, at that. Their meaning lies on the 
surface. They reveal every phase and principle of life. The ideas 
expressed are charged with emotion and consequently affect the will. 
Stories have plots and plots are providences. When angels or fairies 
figure in a plot they are ministers of justice. Stories leave nothing 
to explain. Aspirations and conduct portrayed in them do not have to 
be applied to the lives of the hearers. The story no less than the drama 
holds the mirror up to nature, and the hearer is 'as one who beholds 
his natural face in a glass.'" 

Story-telling has its physical value. At the end of the day in the 
home, or in the midst of commotion in the school, it calms the mind, 
rests the perturbed spirit, and even helps to prepare the body either 
for sleep or for renewed activity. 

It is the most concrete method of teaching and the most interest- 
ing. By means of the story the story-teller appeals not only to the 
intellect but to the feelings, and adds to the intellectual value of the 
tale the power of his own personality. Intellectually the stoty helps 
the imagination, leads to the love of good books and helps the child, 
as he retells the story himself, in his free and accurate use of language. 
It is a source of joy, both now and through life. A source of joy is a 
source of strength. Says a great story-teller : 'Tn the school the story 
is used for language, composition and other formal work; but in the 
home we can tell a story for pure pleasure, and we should give children 
an opportunity to tell and retell stories. Children like to create and 
whether it be with sand, wood or words, the processes underlying it 
are the same. For a child to retell a story, means that he enters into 



the spirit of it, that he sees clearly the mental picture, that he feels 
the underiying life of the story." 

The story is of social value. It interprets life to the child and, 
as it arouses his sympathies, enables him to live more broadly. As a 
disciplinary agency it is unexcelled. It is far better than scolding, it 
is often clearer than a command, and it has the great advantage of 
drawing the child in bonds of affection to his elder. 

Beyond this advantage, is the added charm of the personal ele- 
ment in story-telling. When you make a story your own and tell it, 
the listener gets the story, plus your appreciation of it. It comes to 
him filtered through your own enjoyment. 

Says Mrs. John D. Morris: "In story-telling as in every other 
relation between mother and child the former should make herself 
assured that she is always extending the invitation, 'Come unto me.' 
There is nothing that gives readier entrance to the innermost chambers 
of the little one's heart, reveals the ideals budding therein and gives 
greater opportunity for the mother to make herself in reality instead 
of merely in sentiment the child's most confidential friend than the 
simple story." 

Miss Sara Cone Bryant gives a pretty little incident of her suc- 
cessful endeavor by means of stories to win the confidence and affec- 
tion of a shy young niece. The evening effort did not seem to succeed, 
but it was different in the morning, after she had assisted at the little 
girl's toilet, with some more stories : "When the curls were all curled 
and the last little button buttoned, my baby niece climbed hastily down 
from her chair, and deliberately up into my lap. With a caress rare 
to her habit, she spoke my name, slowly and tentatively, 'An-ty Sai-ry?' 
Then, in an assured tone, 'Anty Sairy, I love you so much I don' know 
what to do !' And presently, tucking a confiding hand in mine to lead 
me to breakfast, she explained sweetly, 'I didn' know you when you 
comed las' night, but now I know you all th' time !' " 

The story has moral value. Truth in an ethical statement is dead, 
in a story it lives, because the story shows how it has been lived by 
actual men and women. The confidence which the story suggests gives 
vital power to the child. Says Frances J. Olcott: 

"At story-telling time a child's mind is open to the deepest im- 
pressions. His emotions may be swayed towards good or bad. His 
imagination is active, making a succession of mental pictures. 
Through story-telling he may be taught the difference between right 
and wrong, and his mind may be stocked with beautiful mental 
images." 

Louise Seymour Houghton adds: "The story is particularly 
valuable because it makes truth attractive. I am not now referring 
to fact but to truth. The truth, for example, that no pagan is neces- 
sarily excluded from the household of God is not particularly interest- 
ing to the thoughtful mind. But embody it in the story of Ruth, and 
how beautiful, how picturesque, poetic, pathetic, dignified a truth it 
becomes ! And though upon the mind of the little child the story will 
probably make a larger impression than the truth, yet is a seed truth 
which needs only the normal degree and kind of care to spring up in 
the mind of any boy or girl and fructify in that comprehensive interest 
in the human race which must underlie all future civilization." 



"Have you stopped to consider," asks Seumas McManus, the 
famous Irish story-teller, "that these two things which story-telling 
evokes are two of the greatest factors, one human, the other super- 
human, that have been put into man's care ? When you hold the mag- 
net over a mass of steel filings they assume order and beauty imme- 
diately. Sympathy is the mighty magnet that reduces to coherence and 
order and beauty the human filings that fill the world. Yet these two 
things, in the eyes of the utilitarians, are valueless because they do not 
teach man that his highest destiny is to become a cog in a perpetual 
motion machine. If you ask me to tell you in three words the benefits 
of story-telling, I will reply in ten words that besides giving the neces- 
sary mental occupation, story-telling will make the child father to a 
kindlier, more enthusiastic, a more idealistic, man than the one who is 
taught to scorn story-telling. If you took two groups of children and 
taught one to love story-telling and the other to scorn story-telling, it 
is very obvious which group would furnish the greater percentage to 
the jails and the workhouses of the country. The story-telling nations 
of the world are the cheerful, social, enthusiastic, idealistic nations, and 
this is because story-telling to the child brings out all the better qual- 
ities, — sympathy, imagination, warmheartedness, sociability." 

And Dr. Richard M. Hodge adds: "We admire qualities before 
persons and persons only because they appear to possess the qualities 
which we already admire. We cannot adore God until we adore the 
qualities which he possesses. An untruthful man for instance cannot 
in the nature of the case worship God for his veracity. For adoration 
is unqualified admiration. Children then must adore divine qualities 
before they can worship God. These qualities me the same as those 
of human character. All are illustrated in human life and the most 
direct and inspirational pictures of human life, outside of the observa- 
tions of the physical eye, are stories. We cannot tell a morally inspir- 
ing story therefore without kindling emotions of worship in our 
hearers." 

Dr. and Mrs. Partridge go so far as to say: "The story holds 
the central place in the teaching of religion. More than anything else 
it can give the breadth of experience, the imaginative grasp of the 
unseen world, and the moods which are the basis of religion in the 
child." 

But why tell rather than read stories ? Seumas McManus answers : 
"Story-telling is superior to the written story chiefly because the man 
who writes is not in touch with the audience. The story-teller talks 
to you, and has to make a story from beginning to end, and every 
sentence has to be a part of the story, because he is within range of a 
brickbat — and subject to the recall at any minute." 

And why tell children stories rather than encourage them to read 
them themselves? Of course we do both, but Mr. McManus answers 
again: "I think story-telling is to story-reading what the eating of a 
meal is to reading the bill-of-fare. The story-reading nations of the 
world are the morose nations, because the reader's a selfish man who 
goes away into a corner with his book, becomes oblivious to the world 
around him, and gives back to the world nothing. Talk about land 
hogs, car hogs, end-seat hogs — I think the worst of them all is the 
book hosf." 



Stories That Children Like. 

Richard T. Wyche, Founder of the National Story-Tellers' 
League, has made the following condensed statement of children's 
tastes in stories : 

"We find the child first in a poetic period, when he enjoys Mother- 
goose rhymes and jingles. Fairies and Santa Claus are the greatest 
characters in life to him. But then as he grows out of this period, he 
discovers that the cow did not jump over the moon, as the Mother- 
goose rhyme had it, and that Santa Claus is not as he thought at first. 
He becomes skeptical, an iconoclast. He wants to know if the story 
is true. Give him then heroic stories and history, like Hiawatha, 
Beowulf; the lives of pioneers and explorers like Columbus, Captain 
John Smith, and George Washington, Luther and Wesley. This 
period might range from eight to twelve years. 

"From that period he is growing into the adolescent period ; great 
changes are taking place both in his mind and in his body. He enjoys 
stories of romance, for he is in a romantic period. Give him the 
Arthurian stories, the whole of the Odyssey story and the great 
romances from the great story books of the world. He is going to 
read some romantic story, tell him the great romantic stories, the 
great classics from the great story books of the world, and he will not 
care to read the trashy story." 

Miss Frances J. Olcott differentiates the tastes of boys from those 
of girls, as follows: 

"As a boy's practical interest evolves, he being objective by nature, 
prefers stories of athletics, of daring adventures, thrilling dangers and 
escapes, also of gregarious life, such as the experiences of gangs, 
pirates and robber-bands, and members of secret societies and clubs. 
He enjoys history, biography and books that show him how to make 
and do things. 

"A girl with intense subjectivity, reads by preference stories of 
play, home, and school life; the burden of which too often is painful 
mental suffering over small sins, and misunderstandings. As she 
grows older, she enjoys simple love stories of a romantic nature. 

"The natural instincts of a girl are narrower than a boy's. They 
may be broadened, however, if some one whom she admires takes an 
active part in directing her reading, for the girl is a hero-worshiper, 
and is willing to be guided by the judgment of one whom she likes. 
On the other hand, a boy is cautious about taking advice from any one 
who does not agree with his definite likes for things and actions ; this 
is especially true of his reading." 

Miss Caroline M. Hewins has made the following careful study 
of the progressive tastes of children's literary appetite, which we con- 
dense from "The Congregationalist" : 

"The likings of children may thus be summed up : 

"First. Pictures and rhymes in broad and simple outlines, as 
primitive and elemental as the stories and drawings of the eave men. 

"Second. Poems and ballads, rhythmical and full of action. 

"Third. Wonder tales and also stories of everyday child life. 

"Fourth. Stories of heroes, mythological and historical. 

"Fifth. Stories of adventure, trial, and suffering that end well." 



After discussing the Mother Goose period she goes on as follows 
with the great story-telling years: 

"The second step in the child's enjoyment of books is when he 
enters into the comprehension of story-poems longer than Mother 
Goose rhymes. A good standard for poetry is one of the older collec- 
tions, like 'Our Children's Songs,' published by the Harpers more than 
twenty years ago. Children like the rhythm and swing of verse if it 
is not reflective or subjective, and sometimes feel the charm of melody 
in a poem which they do not understand, like Gray's 'Elegy,' 
Macaulay's 'Battle of Ivry,' or Rossetti's 'White Ship.' 

"The next step is prose stories. Every child delights in the old- 
fashioned fairy tales, if they are told in the old-fashioned way, such 
as was commended a few years ago by a reviewer in Blackwoods who 
defines their style as that of the first quarter of the nineteenth century, 
— a little stilted, and filled with such exclamations as, 'Vastly well, 
madam.' To test a fairy tale that a child will enjoy, compare it with 
the old stories or with Andrew Lang's revival of them in his fairy 
books. 

"At the time when children enjoy fairy tales they like stories of 
boy and girl life, if these stories are told in a straightforward manner, 
with a great deal of detail. 

"Wonder tales lead to hero tales, and a child begins to learn some- 
thing of the history of the world and of the lives of great men. He 
likes to hear about Romulus and Remus, King Alfred, and George 
Washington. He loves to read of the perils and privations of the early 
settlers of this country, and the Revolution. He has heard in school 
of knightly ideals and perhaps belongs to a Round Table." 

How TO Tell Stories to Children. 

The classics that appeal to children teach us how to tell them 
stories. Form and style to them are but little; sentiment and poetic 
description are annoying interruptions. First is personality. You 
must name and describe your hero. He is the child himself per- 
sonalized. Then comes action. There must be a journey, a combat, 
a plot. Next is mystery, suspense, surprise. Finally the solution. 
With these simple elements anybody ought to tell a tale. They are the 
elements of the classics. 

"The climax," says Miss Bryant, "is that which makes the story; 
for it all that precedes has prepared the way. It is the point upon 
which interest focuses. If a moral lesson is conveyed, it is here that 
it is enforced. Hence failure here means total failure. The reason 
why the 'good story' sometimes seems so dull when it is related by an 
appreciative hearer is that he has missed the point in re-telling it. It 
is for this that the story exists, and skill in dealing with it counts more 
for success than at any other point." 

"How to tell a story ?" says Mr. Wyche. "Tell it naturally, simply, 
directly. The audience, the place, the occasion and the story itself 
must in a large measure determine the way in which a story is told. 
However, there are some fundamental psychological principles under- 
lying all creative processes, whether it be telling a story or building a 
house. In telling a story one must be able to see clearly the mental 



pictures in the story and be able to create the picture anew each time 
the story is told in words that are current with his audience. If the 
story-teller sees clearly the picture, he can make others see it. But 
the story has something more than imagery. It has emotion and one 
must feel deeply the truth in the story. Feeling more than anything 
else will give one a motive for telling the truth. Frequently a story 
is told more than anything else to impart feeling. If we cultivate right 
emotions in the child, his deeds will be righteous." 

So important is directness as a method that the following sentence 
from Miss Sara Cone Bryant seems to the writer to be the most valu- 
able one ever written upon the subject: 

"I like to think of the story-teller as a good fellow standing at a 
great window overlooking a busy street or a picturesque square, and 
reporting with gusto to the comrade in the rear of the room what of 
mirth or sadness he sees ; he hints at the policeman's strut, the organ- 
grinder's shrug, the schoolgirl's gayety, with a gesture or two which 
is born of an irresistible impulse to imitate; but he never leaves his 
fascinating post to carry the imitation farther than a hint." 

This power of visualising is frequently emphasized by Mr. Wyche: 
"We must be able to visualize, to see clearly the images, the mental 
pictures in the story. If we are to tell the story of Ulysses we must 
see him." 

Again he urges : "To the extent that the story-teller can imagine 
these scenes, creating them anew as he tells the story, to that extent 
can he make his audience see them. He may rest assured if he does 
not see clearly the mental pictures, his audience will not. If the pic- 
ture is hazy and dim his words will be doubtful, inaccurate, and inar- 
tistic, but if he have a vivid mental picture his words will be graphic, 
and his use of them will give just the right shade and color, making 
the outward ring true to the inward. Therein is the difference in recit- 
ing a story and telling a story." 

Story-telling is thus, incidentally, most educative to the story- 
teller. The story-teller is like the guide who attempts to show Europe. 
He finds that he must not depend upon his haze of memories ; he must 
be able to state clearly, definitely and accurately the exact facts. It 
makes him a wiser man to be able to do it. So the story-teller dis- 
covers that perhaps he does not know the classics as well as he thought, 
that he has in fact forgotten the very point of a certain famous story, 
that he must keep up with his reading if he would keep in advance of 
his child. Story-telling has made many an adult ashamed of his read- 
ing, as he has noticed that his mental habits are to dwell in realms 
which would not be respectable company to a good story. 

But method in story-telling is secondary to matter. "The essential 
thing in a story is to make something happen." 

Miss Vostrovsky's suggestive study shows that in young children 
the interest in what was done leads all others, and that they put several 
times as much emphasis upon action as upon moral qualities, sentiment, 
feeling, esthetic details and dress combined, while the thought of the 
actors received no mention at all. It is well known that adolescent 
boys demand "something doing" in their books, and in adults interest 
in action has hardly decreased. 

"For these reasons," says Edna Lyman, "let me urge you, when 

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you are looking for stories to tell little children, to apply this threefold 
test as a kind of touchstone to their quality of fitness : Are they full 
of action, in close natural sequence ? Are their images simple without 
being humdrum? Are they repetitive? The last quality is not an 
absolute requisite, but it is at least very often an attribute of a good 
child-story." 

Continued Stories. 

It is a good thing, after awhile, to settle down to a continued story. 
Beginning with Colonial times, I have portrayed the adventures of a 
certain Colonel Lindsay, who fought in the Revolution, and then went 
over the Alleghanies to the Western Reserve and met a series of 
unparalleled adventures with the Indians in his home. 

To-night, for example, I am describing an attack on Marietta, 
that took place while our mythical hero was away. The eyes brighten 
as the gathering of the tribes is described. The children gather closer 
to me as Colonel Lindsay's capture far from home is related. The 
brave defense of the beleaguered garrison, under the lead of the 
Colonel's young son, brings cheers of approbation which arouse the 
dog. Then there is the Colonel's skillful, silent escape, and his return 
in disguise to the neighborhood of his home. The children look into 
the fire as the great battle day comes with its wild charges, the rolling 
up of the farm wagons, loaded with burning hay against the stockade, 
the break at the gate, and the almost miraculous appearance of the 
brave hero to save the day. We started with Lindsay as a lad, a scout 
under Washington in New Jersey saw him over the Alleghanies, 
stayed with his sons during the days of early settlement, and at last 
accounts we were dealing with his grandchildren in the times of 1812. 
We were over a year, at intervals telling this story. 

The Relation of Stories to Play. 

This relation of a child's play to his favorite stories, which Mrs. 
Richards noticed, has been made a special study by Prof. H. M. Burr 
of the Y. M. C. A. Training College at Springfield, with the idea of 
taking advantage of its possibilities in education. He has planned a 
graded course in stories as follows: 

"i. Race stories, especially Teutonic myths, legends and folklore. 
Stories appealing to the imagination and illustrating the attempts of 
the child race to explain the wonders of the world in which he lives. 

"2. Stories of nature ; animal and plant stories. 

"3. Stories of individual prowess ; hero tales, — Samson, Her- 
cules, etc. Stories of early inventions. 

"4. Stories of great leaders and patriots. Social heroes from 
Moses to Washington. 

"5. Stories of love, altruism, love of woman, love of country and 
home, love of beauty, truth and God." 

He suggests the possibility of associating with these stories, as 
appropriate means of expression, activities as follows : 

"With nature stories, myths, and legends would be associated 



tramps in the woods and every variety of nature study ; care of animals, 
plants, etc. 

"With stories of individual prowess would be associated the indi- 
vidualistic games, athletic and gymnastic work for the development of 
individual strength and ability, also, constructive work of the more 
elementary type, — work with clay, knife work, basket weaving, etc. 

"With the stories of great leaders and patriots would be associated 
games which involve team play, leadership, obedience to leader, and 
subordination of self to the group. 

"With the altruistic stories would be associated altruistic efforts 
in behalf of boys who are less favored." 

Story-telling soon develops a particular kind of self-activity, which 
might be called the story game. A good story would be acted out as a 
play the next Saturday. If the children saw a good drama, they 
insisted on adding some more acts to it at home. 

They begin to write stories themselves. I have borrowed the fol- 
lowing account of an actual method from my "The Coming Genera- 
tion." 

You should have a big blank book, on the title page of which you 
may write, "The New Crusoe." 

First, we imagine that we have been wrecked on an unknown 
island, and while we are drawing a rough sketch of the wreck, the 
children are deciding the best things to take ashore. Of course, in 
the haste of leaving, it is hard to think of everything, but as we cannot 
supply any needs later, except by our own ingenuity, we must be as 
self-possessed as possible. The leader's part all through is to listen 
and put down what is decided upon. He makes no suggestions him- 
self, unless everybody else is cornered. Indeed the story almost tells 
itself. ''" 

Each night the map of the country may be extended as far as they 
have explored it. The children shall name all the points of interest. 
Several maps will be needed before we get through, to show particular 
districts more clearly. 

We camp the first night close by the shore under a tent of old 
tarpaulin. We are busy for a week in bringing our goods ashore 
before the ship broke up. But our tent was entirely unsheltered, and 
far from fresh water. As soon as we had cleared the wreck of every- 
thing, even the bolts and beams, we began to take short exploring trips. 
We followed up wandering Wiggle Brook until we came to a cool 
spring in the forest, on a considerable hill. This hill, since we found 
in the mud near the spring a human footstep, we named Foot-step 
Hill. Here we pitched our camp, hither removed our possessions. 

After awhile we pastured our flocks and herds in the Grassy 
Meadow to the east of us, but being much troubled by wild beasts, and 
still fearing wild men, we finally removed our whole establishment to 
a Tree House and stockade which we built on the higher hills farther 
from the water. We still overlooked the sea, however, and our Amer- 
ican flag waved constantly aloft as a signal to any passing ship. 

There is not time to tell you of the strange way a young Prince of 
the Island came and made his home with us, and first made us aware 
of the bloodthirsty tribe that lived over the lofty Donjon Mountains 
toward the south. Nor can I relate the life story of the venerable 

10 , 



white hermit, believed by those savages a demon of witchcraft, who 
dwelt at the top alone, in his mountain cave. Are not all these written 
in the Chronicles of the New Crusoe by Archie, Davie, and Jack? 

The story still goes on. Often we take up the book and find, in a 
child's laggard handwriting, a new adventure or a bold sketch of some 
fresh affray. 

At any time of day or night, one needs only make some such 
remarks as, "Do you remember what we did the morning we found 
the charmed necklace at the foot of the tree in the stockade ?" and they 
are off like a shot. Sometimes they seem to live two lives alongside 
at once. 

All this, as may be imagined, makes an introduction not only to 
good books, but also to fullness of life. 

The way stories run on into dramatic play is subject for another 
monograph. The author once had an experience with a group of boys 
who became interested in Hiawatha and wanted to dramatize it. He 
supposed it was to be a month's task, but the preparations, involving 
all kinds of handicraft in scene-making and costumes, took all winter. 
There was, in his experience, hardly a lively story that did not appear 
soon in his children's play, and sometimes in distinctive dramatic 
efforts in the way of "family shows," that were both respectable and 
amusing. 

How TO Tell Bible Stories. 

The Bible is the greatest story-book in the world. It is the first 
in order of use. 

"This," says Louise Seymour Houghton, "is the value of the 
Bible stories for the child : that they give a religious meaning to all 
the experiences of his early life, and furnish the bond of unity, the 
centralizing focus of all the processes, intellectual, moral, and spiritual, 
of his maturing years. 'No other book finds me as the Bible does,' 
said Coleridge, and this is superlatively true of the child of any age. 
The Bible stories find him as no other stories do." 

Even the order of the books is appropriate to the stages of child 
development. It has been pointed out by others that the Bible repre- 
sents also a very significant genetic order. It is a spiritual history 
of the race, and it is also the story of the inner development of 
every individual. It begins with the story of the creation, a wonder 
tale that appeals strongly to the mind of the child. Next comes the 
period of pastoral life, affecting all the child's out-of-door interest. 
Then is the heroic stage, the story of the God of battles, the stern and 
just lawgiver and inflicter of punishment like the parent, a narration 
full of wonderful stories of which the child never tires. The story 
then moves on to picture? of civic splendour, to the days of degenerate 
city life, in which the old ideals for a time wane. Then comes the 
reign of Christ in the world, the story of the regeneration of society 
by the spirit of love and self-sacrifice. Last of all is the philosophic 
and theological stage, in which the story turns upon the doctrine of 
the church. 

Dr. Richard G. Moulton, himself a fine Bible story-teller, has given 
some suggestive special hints as to the wav to tell stories from the 
Bible : 

II 



"Our first duty to a Bible story is to love it; its effect we may 
leave to the divine Artist. 

"The proper preparation of the story-teller is that he should sat- 
urate himself with Bible story, but it must be story itself, not story and 
history mixed. 

"When the story has been carefully studied and assimilated, then 
the freest play of imagination should be used in the rendering. Like 
the actor, the story-teller is a translator, with the translator's double 
fidelity — to his original and to his audience. The question is not of 
translating out of one language into another. The question is but of 
one set of mental habits belonging to ancient life into another set of 
habits characterizing the modern hearers who are to be impressed. 
Greek drama, with exquisite instinct, realized this double fidelity in its 
institution of the chorus. Theoretically, a Greek chorus is a portion 
of the supposed audience in the theater transported into the age and 
garb of the story dramatized, which they follow from point to point 
with meditations calculated to voice similar meditations on the part of 
those watching the representation of the drama. Every teller of a 
Bible story must be his own chorus, moving through the scenes of the 
narrative with the outlook and emotions of the men or the children 
of to-day. 

"Some very effective tellers of scripture stories fill in details of 
modern realism with slang up to date. I have never myself felt the 
necessity of this ; but it is a fault in the right direction. The exact 
narrative of Scripture must be freely handled ; we may expand where 
the original is terse, emphasize clearly what the original takes for 
granted, alter altogether the proportion of parts. The condition is that 
we should first have been minutely faithful in our study of the story, 
omitting no hint, and wresting nothing out of proportion. This once 
secured, we become free agents in the translation of what has been 
learned into terms of modern thought." 

Concerning the grading and use of Bible stories for purposes of 
moral education, we have our wisest word from Mrs. Houghton: 
"First, at about three, the story in its simplest possible outline, and 
as much as may be in the Bible words. Then at about five an elemen- 
tary unfolding of its spiritual meaning, in answer to the child's impor- 
tunate *Why?' This is to be followed at about eight by careful 
co-ordination of the story with the child's first elementary knowledge 
of mythology and history. A year or two later the co-ordination of 
these stories with geography and elementary science may be in order, 
and not very much later, with the child's sense of language as illus- 
trated in poetry and wonder tales. At about twelve or thirteen the 
alert young mind, expanded from its earliest activity by ever expand- 
ing apprehension of spiritual truth, never having been confused by 
any contradiction between its Biblical and its secular acquisitions, 
always having been harmoniously active in its three functions of 
imagination, emotion and will, is ready for the theological and ethical 
interpretation of the story, in what may be called the grammar school 
grade of these interpretations, of which he has already had the elemen- 
tary grade. His more advanced historical work will enable him to put 
the stories in their proper place in history, and his studies in the classics 
and English literature to appreciate the literary character of the Bible, 



the place of each story in the history of literature, its oriental diction 
and forms of speech. 

"There will be no difficulty if this method has been pursued thus 
far, if neither the child's Bible nor his religion has been kept as a 
thing apart, unrelated to his school work or his weekday life, reserved 
for Sunday or forgotten entirely — there will be no difficulty, when this 
method has been pursued till his fifteenth or sixteenth year, carrying it 
farther, and relating it to his higher study of ethics and philosophy, 
as well as of history and literature, and making it an illumination of 
both, instead of, as too often sadly happens, a stumbling-block and 
cause of blind bewilderment." 

Story-Telling Devices. 

The following special "tricks of the trade" are chosen from some 
of our most practical authorities and are inserted without comment. 

St. John says: "One of the most important of these literary de- 
vices is the use of direct rather than indirect discourse. Through its 
use a certain vivacity of style is gained, and it adds movement and life- 
likeness to the tale. There is no easier way to give the semblance of 
reality to an imaginary tale than by letting the characters speak for 
themselves. The personality of the narrator is less intrusive, and the 
effect upon the hearer is that of looking on at a scene in real life." 

Miss Bryant says: "Explanations and moralizing are mostly 
sheer clutter. Some few stories necessarily include a little explanation, 
and stories of the fable order may quaintly end with an obvious moral. 
But here again, the rule is — great discretion." 

St. John says : " 'Take your time.' This suggestion needs ex- 
plaining, perhaps. It does not mean license to dawdle. Nothing is 
much more annoying in a speaker than too great deliberateness, or 
than hesitation of speech. But it means a quiet realization of the fact 
that the floor is yours, everybody wants to hear you, there is time 
enough for every point and shade of meaning, and no one will think 
the story too long. This mental attitude must underlie proper control 
of speed. Never hurry. A business-like leisure is the true attitude of 
the story-teller." 

The most important device, no doubt, is repetition. Says Miss 
Bryant: "The charm of repetition, to children, is a complex mat- 
ter; there are undoubtedly a good many elements entering into it, 
hard to trace in analysis. But one or two of the more obvious may be 
seized and brought to view. The first is the subtle flattery of an un- 
expected sense of mastery. When the child-mind, following with toil- 
ful alertness a new train of thought, comes suddenly on a familiar 
epithet or expression, I fancy it is with much the same sense of satis- 
faction that we older people feel when in the midst of a long pro- 
gramme of new music the orchestra strikes into something we have 
heard before." 

And Mr. St. John adds: "A very helpful device is the rhythmic 
repetition of certain significant words or phrases from time to time 
through the progress of the tale. In the fairy and folk-tales, this fre- 
quently appears, as in case of the 'hoppity-kick, hoppity-kick,' of the 
little half chick, the 'trip-trop, trip-trop' of the three goats crossing 

13 



the bridge, and the various remarks of the big bear, the middle-sized 
bear, and the little wee bear. In such cases, the story gains an added 
quaintness of form which has value in itself. The little child, puzzled 
by much that is unfamiliar, remembers the rhythmic phrase and wel- 
comes it as we greet an old friend in a strange city," 

Of course the most valuable kind of repetition of a story is by the 
children themselves. Using the repetitious phrases as crutches to 
memory, they will be heard telling the stories over to their dolls or to 
their young playmates, who attend "with little listening hearts." 
Miss Meta Eloise Beall, one of the Field Secretaries of our Institute, 
who has had successful experience with story-telling hours for chil- 
dren, tells us how her method soon makes the children not only uncon- 
scious of themselves, but eager both to assist in the story-telling and to 
repeat and even go on with stories of their own: "I ask my grown- 
ups to be 'little folks just for the time being,' and it never fails to 
please. Then comes a story for the 'wee folks.' Whenever this hap- 
pens to be a 'repetition' story, before I'm half through the children join 
in the part that repeats — perfectly unconscious of the fact that there 
are many grown-ups near. In the Story Hour given here some of the 
children were so eager to tell themselves a story Uncle Nat had written 
them about, that I let them 'take the floor,' and they delighted ever>-- 
body." 

The child's desire, through repetition, to be sure he masters his 
favorite story leads him to read it. Says Mrs. Morris: "Not long ago 
I came upon a child with his head buried in the pages of a story which 
I had told him many times, and upon asking him why he was reading 
that story, he replied: 'I'm reading the things I did not understand 
when you told it.' The little one had understood the tale from the first, 
but in the intervening months his understanding had broadened to a 
fuller meaning of many of the expressions." 

Where to Find Stories. 

Besides the elaborate references at the close of this article the fol- 
lowing specific hints from experienced story-tellers will be helpful. 
Edna Lyman suggests as stories to read aloud: 

"Such books and stories as the following seem to represent worthy 
examples of the things desirable for reading aloud: Van Dyke's 
'Other Wise Man,' Parkman's 'Oregon Trail,' 'Uncle Remus's 
Stories,' Hawthorne's 'Great Stone Face,' 'Wonder Book' and 'Tangle- 
wood Tales' ; Hale's 'Man Without a Country' and 'In His Name,' 
Kingsley's 'Greek Heroes,' Lamb's 'Tales from Shakespeare,' Irving's 
'Rip Van Winkle' and 'Legend of Sleepy Hollow,' portions of 'Gulli- 
ver's Travels' and 'Pilgrim's Progress,' Stein's 'Gabriel and the Hour 
Book,' Dickens' 'Christmas Carol,' 'Cricket on the Hearth,' and enough 
of many other novels to serve as a good introduction, perhaps begin- 
ning with 'Oliver Twist,' Ruskin's 'King of the Golden River,' Poe's 
'Fall of the House of Usher,' 'Gold Bug' and 'Purloined Letter'; 
Scott's 'Ivanhoe,' 'Quentin Durward' and 'Guy Mannering' ; Mark 
Twain's 'Prince and the Pauper,' and Lanier's editions of 'Froissart' 
and 'Malory,' Morris's 'Sundering Flood,' 'Famous Adventures and 
Escapes of the Civil War,' Hughes's 'Tom Brown's School Days,' 

H 



Baldwin's 'Golden Age,' which is an excellent introduction to the 
Odyssey; F. Hopkinson Smith's 'Captain Joe,' La Motte Fouque's 
'Undine,' and Kipling's 'Drums of the Fore and Aft.' 

"There is so much humor in the ballads of 'Robin Hood,' so much 
spirit and thrill to Morris's 'Sigurd the Volsung,' so much breadth of 
Joaquin Miller's 'Columbus,' such daring and courage in Macaulay's 
'Lays,' and Longfellow's ballads, so much adventure and romance in 
Scott's 'Lady of the Lake' and 'Lay of the Last Minstrel,' that if there 
is any music in the reader, any feeling for what he is reading, any 
lesponse to the spirit of the great out-of-doors, it will inevitably be 
reflected in those who listen to him." 

The following stories have been told to boys at the West Side Y. M. 
C. A., Cleveland: "The Dog of Flanders," Ouida; "Lobo" ("Wild 
Animals I Have Known"), Thompson; "Rollo Learning Not To," 
T. S. C. Abbott; "Chimes from a Jester's Bells," Burdette; "A Man 
Without a Country," Hale; "Timothy's Quest," Kate D. Wiggin; 
"Christmas Eve in a Lumber Camp"; "Black Rock," Chapter I, Ralph 
Connor; "Gallagher," Richard H. Davis; "700," Kipling; "The 
Walking Delegate," Kipling; "Sonny," Chapters I and HI, Ruth Mc- 
Enery Stuart; "Meko, the Mischief Maker," Long; "Ways of the 
Woods Folks," Long; "The Monkey That Would Not Kill," Drum- 
mond ; "Editha's Burglar," F. H. Burnett ; "Following the Deer," Long ; 
"What a Boy Saw in the War"; "Riki-Tiki-Tavi," Kipling; "The Boy 
Recruits" (St. Nicholas), Willis B. Hawkins; "His Duty" (The Mis- 
sionary Sheriflf), Octave Thanet; "Joel, a Boy of Galilee," Annie 
Fellows-Johnston. 

"Nothing is more helpful," says Edna Lyman, "to a novice in story 
telling, for obtaining familiarity with the principles of construction 
and the essential qualities of a narration, than the study of a few of 
the world's great short stories, such as Daudet's 'Death of the 
Dauphin,' Hawthorne's 'Great Stone Face,' Kipling's 'Man Who Would 
Be King,' Dickens' 'Child's Dream of a Star,' Stevenson's 'Markheim,' 
Maupassant's 'Necklace' and his 'Coward,' Balzac's 'Passion in the 
Desert,' Irving's 'Rip Van Winkle, and Poe's 'Gold Bug' or his 'Black 
Cat.' " 

Stories in the Home. 

The story is the cadence of the day. It lifts the reunions of the 
supper table to a higher level. It explains the day's misunderstand- 
ings. It is the mutual expression of common loves and common 
cares. It voices aspirations as truly as does a hymn. It sends the 
child, unwilling to depart, with a smile to bed, and it leaves its 
echoes even after they sleep. In one home which the writer knows 
the parents usually go around to see that the lads are safe for the 
night. The oldest has pinned a picture of Giant Grim out of "Pil- 
grim's Progress" on his door as a guardian, and sleeps uneasily, with 
his percussion-cap pistol in his grasp. In the next room his younger 
brother is still wearing his baseball cap on his head, while incongru- 
ously clasping his doll to his breast. The bed of the youngest is 
empty. He is found on the floor nearby, stretched out in calm repose, 
with stains on his cheeks that speak of ginger cookies, and an odor of 
sanctity that suggests salt codfish. 

15 



REFERENCES. 

Note. — Any book mentioned in these monographs will be freely loaned 
to any member of the Institute upon request. They may also be purchased, if 
desired. The principal sources for this monograph are as follows : 

STORY-TELLING. 

The Children's Reading, by Francis Jenkins Olcott. 

A most admirably comprehensive guide for mothers. It has chapters 
covering the entire realm of children's literature, each one with a good 
introductory portion discussing the place of that particular kind of litera- 
ture in a child's life and then giving a carefully annotated list of books. 
Unique features of the volume are a list of one hundred stories and 
where to find them and a purchase list of books with prices. 

How TO Tell Stories to Children, by Sara Cone Bryant. 

This book is written in a style which will make its strong appeal to 
mothers and teachers of little children. It is charmingly written, and there 
are many practical helpful suggestions as to the manner of telling stones. 
It is particularly adapted to the younger children. It contains a good 
bibliography for story-tellers, and a number of stories gathered from 
various sources and personally adapted by the author. 

A Mother's List of Books for Children, by Gertrude Weld Arnold. 

This helpful list is graded year by year for children from two to 
fourteen years of age. Each book is very carefully described by a woman 
of taste and judgment who has evidently read each one of them carefully. 
The little book has a fine literary tone, and there are many pleasant quota- 
tions in the chapter headings and scattered through the descriptions. 

Some Great Stories and How to Tell Them, by Richard Thomas Wyche. 
Mr. Wyche is President of the National Story Tellers' League and 
there is no better authority on such subjects as to the choice and use of 
stories and the best way to tell them. The mother or teacher who desires 
to increase her power through the use of stories will find this book of 
great service to that end. 

Stories and Story-Telling in Moral and Religious Education, by Edward 
Porter St. John. 
This book is good in its general discussion of the art of Story- 
Telling. It states clearly the large constructive principles which underlie 
the oral presentation of the story. The primary^ object of the book is to 
show the relationship of stories to moral and religious education. To this 
end his choice of Bible stories, and especially of the parables of Jesus as 
illustrating clearly the simple and effective telling of a story which teaches 
a valuable lesson, is excellent. The analysis of the story interests of child- 
hood of early and later adolescence is especially good. These are good 
suggestion for first-hand study, which will be helpful in the preparation 
of material for the story hour. 

Stories and Story-Telling, by Angela M. Keyes. 

Story-Telling: What to Tell and How to Tell It, by Edna Lyman. 

This is an excellent treatise on the art of Story-Telling. It is broader 
in its scope than many of the books dealing with this subject. It is written 
for non-professional Story-Tellers, who have not always time to gather 
the source material for themselves. The suggestions are very simple and 
definite and the models given by way of illustration are very practical, for 
the author shows very clearly how to adapt the original material to a story 
hour. There is an excellent chapter on the value of reading aloud to 
children and the author's suggestions about hero stories, the great epics 
and how to use them are very good. She gives the detailed plan of procedure, 
the sources, and definite reasons why they are good to use in story work. 

i6 



Story- Telling in School and Home, by Emelyn Newcomb Partridge. 

A great fund of practical information and valuable suggestion to 
teachers and parents, and plenty of good stories of various types to tell, 
are brought together in this volume. Calls for help in this field are 
constant. In response, comes this practical book; simple and direct in 
manner, informed with a spirit of broad culture and fine taste, and rooted 
in the experiences of experts and writers in the story-telling field. Part I 
is connected with the origins and ways of telling stories. Part II contains 
the stories themselves. 

Telling Bible Stories, by Louise Seymour Houghton. 

A most useful supplement to Miss Bryant's "How to Tell Stories to 
Children." 

STORIES TO TELL. 

The After School Library, Volume 2, "Myths and Legendary Heroes"; 
Volume 3, "Classic Tales and Old Fashioned Stories," by H. W. Mabie 
and D. E. Wheeler. 

Some of these in Volume 3 are a little too long for telling. 

Aunt Jo's Scrap Bag, by Louisa M. Alcott. 

These collections of short stories contain many good, sensible home 
stories which may readily be adapted by the story-teller, and which will 
meet a demand for simple stories of real life which children 7 to 10 ask 
to hear. 

The Blue Fairy Book, by Andrew Lang. 

A very good general collection of the most familiar old fairy tales. 

Book of Ballad Stories, by Mary Macleod. 

Prose versions of thirty-four old English and Scotch ballads. Attractive 
illustrations. 

Book of Folk Stories, by Horace Elisha Scudder. 

"Three Bears," "Puss in Boots," "Cinderella," "Sleeping Beauty" and 
nearly all the famous fairy tales. 

Book of Legends Told Over Again, by Horace E. Scudder. 

"St. George and the Dragon," "The Flying Dutchman," "The Seven 
Sleepers of Ephesus," "Wilhelm Tell," "The Legend of St. Christopher" 
and others. 

Bulletin of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Vol. 12, No. 1, Januarj% 
1907, Reading Circles for Boys and Girls. 

The Child's Treasure Trove of Pearls, by Mary W. Tileston. 

An excellent collection of stories which have been gathered from 
sources of a past generation and hidden away in folk lore of various 
countries of thirty to sixty years ago. It includes some simple realistic 
stories not well known and some very excellent versions of old folk tales 
like the "The Three Goslings," "The Pancake" and "The Honest Penny." 
These have not lost their original quaintness in the retelling. 

Cruikshank Fairy Book. 

The original Cruikshank illustrations. Contains "Cinderella," 'Puss in 
Boots," "Hop O' My Thumb" and "Jack and the Bean Stalk." 

Don Quixote, edited by Mary E. Burt and Lucy L. Cable. 

Donegal Fairy Book, by Seumus MacManus. 

English Fairy Tales, by Joseph Jacobs. 

Fables and Folk Stories, by Horace Elisha Scudder. 

17 



The Fairy Ring, by Kate Douglas Wiggin and Nora D. Smith. 

Designed by its editors to be a standard fairy book for children. The 
educational value of the fairy story cannot be denied in its healthy stimulus 
of the child's imaginative power. Here Grimm, Andersen, Joseph Jacobs, 
Laboulaye, PerrauTt and Dascent have yielded their richest stores, but the 
editors have not confined themselves to these better known sources. They 
have gone far afield, have read and examined all existing books of fairy 
literature, sifting all material till they have made a generous selection 
which is inclusive of the very best that has ever been written. 

Fairy Tales, by Hans Christian Andersen. Illustrated by Thomas C. and 
William Robinson. Translated by Mrs. E. V. Lucas. 

Fanciful Tales, by Frank R, Stockton. 

Fairy Tales, by Jacob L. K. Grimm and W. K. Grimm. Illustrated by Arthur 
Rackham. Translated by Mrs. E. Lucas. 
These standard collections are part of everv child's heritage in the 
world of story 

Fairy Tales from the Far North, by P. C. Asbjomsen. 

Fairy Tales a Child Can Read and Act, by Lillian Edith Nixon. 

Written originally as supplementary reading material for children of 
the second grade, the success of the book has justified its publication as 
children's classics in dramatic form. The good, old wonder tales are 
presented with the utmost simplicity, and their dramatic quality has proved 
invaluable as a means of training the imagination, of quickening literary 
appreciation, and of giving power of interpretation through the development 
of the play instinct of childhood. 

Fairy Tales Children Love, by Charles Welsh. 

An excellent collection of familiar tales with a splendid introduction 
which has many suggestions as to origin and value of the stories that 
will be useful to the story-teller. 

Fifty Famous Stories Retold, by James Baldwin. 

A collection of historic tales. They are told concisely and simply with 
good dramatic feeling. They contain such familiar tales as "King Alfred 
and the Cakes," "Dick Whittington and His Cat," etc. 

Finding List of Fairy Tales and Folk Stories, Boston Public Library. About 
one hundred volumes are indexed in this list. 

The First Book of Stories for the Story-Teller, by Fanny E. Coe. 

As the title indicates, a primary book for the use of beginners in 
story-telling and beginners in listening. 

Forgotten Tales of Long Ago, by E. V. Lucas. 

A valuable collection of twenty tales of the period 1790-1830, which 
show the quaint and stilted language and proper conduct of this period. 
Of use to the story-teller who wishes to give an idea of the stories of 
long ago. 

For the Children's Hour, by Carolyn S. Bailey and Clara M. Lewis. 

E. Hassler's Graded List of Stories for Reading Aloud, Public Library Com- 
mission of Indiana, 1908, including both whole books and selections, which 
will prove stimulating and helpful, particularly in the beginning of the 
eflFort to introduce children to books. 

The Golden Spears and other fairy tales, by Edmund Leamy. 

A collection of Irish fairy tales, full of delicate and humorous imagina- 
tion and the weird love of Irish folk tales. 

Golden Windows, by Laura E. Richards. 

Very short stories to tell to very small children. 

i8 



Granny's Wonderful Chair, by Frances Browne. 

This is a delightful little collection of fairy stories written by a woman 
who was born blind. They are told in clear, simple language, and the word 
pictures are full of life and color. Granny's wonderful chair which carried 
the little snow flower to the King's court, and at her bidding each night 
tells a tale to the King and his court, is a very quaint and clever way of 
binding these fairy pastorals together. The whole plan of the book makes 
it a beautiful story source for the story-teller. 

Grimm's Popular Tales. Introduction by John Ruskin. 

Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates, by Mary Mapes Dodge. 

Heroes and Heroines Children Love, by Charles Welsh. 

Herakles, the Hero of Thebes, edited by Mary E. Burt. 

In the Days of Giants, by Abbie Farwell Brown. 

Index to Short Stories, by Grace E. Salisbury and Marie E. Beckwith. 

Stories are alphabetically indexed according to the subjects, with refer- 
ences to the books in which they are found. There are twenty-two stories 
on courage, twenty-four on contentment, forty-nine on Christmas, six on 
gratitude, nineteen on kindness, three on courtesy, etc. Several hundred 
topics appear in the list. 

Japanese Fairy Tales, by Yee Theodora Ozaki. 

Japanese Fairy Tales, by P. Williston. 

The Japanese stories lend themselves to story-telling because of the 
peculiar child-likeness of conception and delicacy of imagination. 

Jungle Books, by Rudyard Kipling. 

Just So Stories, by Rudyard Kipling. 

These stories are truly Kiplingesque in quality, and are very popular 
in story hour because of their unique humor. They need to be told in the 
author's own words. 

King Arthur and His Knights, by Mary Macleod. 

A List of Good Stories to Tell to Children under twelve years of age, Car- 
negie Library of Pittsburgh. 

There are references to books in which the stories may be found. The 
list includes twenty-five Bible stories, sixteen fables, fourteen myths, four- 
teen Christmas stories. 

LoBO, Rag and Vixen, by Ernest Thompson-Seton. 

Magic Casements, by Kate Douglas Wiggin and Nora D. Smith. 

This volume, as companion of the "Fairy Ring," completes that volume 
and makes with it the most exhaustive collection of fairy lore available for 
young readers. The editors, with their unerring gift of selection, which in 
itself amounts to genius, have gathered these stories that have in^ them 
the greatest degree of that glamor which in the language of Keats "opens 
magic casements" on the world of Fairyland. 

These two are uniform with Tales of Laughter and Tales of Wonder in 
"Crimson Classics." 

More Mother Stories, by Maud Lindsay. 

Miss Lindsay says: "My stories of the happy outdoor world were 
written in response to the needs of the little children with whom my lot 
is cast. * * * I have striven to keep them true to Froebel's ideals for 
Childhood, Truth, Simplicity and Purity." The author has succeeded in 
her purpose, for these Mother Tales are simple, pure and true. 

More English Fairy Tales, by Joseph Jacobs. 

19 



\ 



Mother Stories, by Maud Lindsay. 

A few simple stories for mothers aj^d children embodying some oi ui. 
truths of Froebel's Mother Play. 

Nights With Uncle Remus, by Joel Chandler Harris. 

These stories are the Simon pure of the negro classic so far as source 
material of their folk lore is concerned. The tales are very characteristic 
of the folk who originated them. They are quaint, whimsical with an 
incongruous sense of humor, and a childlike crudeness of vocabulary which 
makes the word picturing delightfully vivid. Nowhere does one find such 
a curious, childlike, humorous personification of the animal creation as in 
these folk tales of the negro people. The customs and characteristics of 
these "born story-tellers" are well brought out in Uncle Remus, who is a 
composite photograph of the best old Southern darkey. 

This book is peculiarly adapted for reading aloud and as such is suited 
to all ages, from the little six-year-old to the grandfather in the family 
circle. It is one of the universal books. There are a number of whimsical 
illustrations. 

Norse Stories as Told from the Eddas, by Hamilton Wright Mabie. 

Norse Fairy Tales, by P. C. Asbjornsen. Selected and adapted from the 
translations by G. W. Dasent. 

Norse Tales Retold, by Ritza Freeman and Ruth Davis. 

For little children and others who care to read them. 

Odysseus, the Hero of Ithaca, edited by Mary E. Burt. 

Once Upon a Time Tales, by Mary Stewart, with introduction by Henry Van 
Dyke. 

Russian Grandmother's Wonder Tales, by Louise Seymour. 

A good picture of the Russian home life and quaint tales told by the 
Russian grandmother to the little boy, told as her great-great-grandmother 
gave them to her. The tales are simple and quaint, told in very blunt, 
realistic fashion. 

St. Nicholas Christmas Book. 

An excellent collection of stories which are desirable from the stand- 
point of reality, that is, the stories are simple and homelike ones about real 
people, and while many are unique in adventure, yet all are about things 
which might have happened to any boys and girls, and this type of story- 
is greatly enjoyed by girls and boys 7 to 10. 

Spinning Wheel Stories, by Louisa M. Alcott. 

Stories read to a party of children during the Christmas holidays. 

Stories and Poems for Children, by Celia Thaxter, 

Celia Thaxter has a peculiar combination of the qualities of tenderness 
and childlikeness of nature which makes her stories and poems especially 
adapted to children. A freshness and simple kindliness of thought ripples 
through everything she writes. Her poems are simple homelike stories in 
rhymes and have a beautiful lyric qualit^^ Her songs of nature are 
peculiarly childlike. 

Stories Children Love, by Charles Welsh. 

The author has compiled a collection of the best known stories grouped 
in three divisions covering the Kindergarten period, the Grammar School 
period, and the High School period, thus enabling parents and teachers^ to 
select suitable stories for their individual needs. The stories are fitting 
for children in every stage from the nursery to adolescence, and are 
beautifully illustrated. 



Stories from Famous Ballads, by Mrs. Sara Jane Lippincott. 

New edition of a very successful narration of old ballads, retaining 
their charm and romance. 

Stories from Old French Romance, by Ethel M. Wilmot-Buxton. 

Contains "Aucassin and Nicolette," "Constans," "Roland and Oliver," 
"Death of Roland," "William the Werwolf," etc. The stories are charm- 
ingly told and some of them are not found elsewhere. 

Stories of Brave Dogs. 

A good collection of stories calculated to show the brave, loyal side of 
dog nature, and to bring out the fact that the dog is our friend and helper, 
the one who "shares our family life, and knows us indoors and out." 
There is the story of Owney, the Post Office dog, "who did not attach 
himself to a single man or family, but to all the men of the postal service, 
and for years traveled about the country taking care of the United States 
mail bags." There are the tales of "Little Man Friday," a mongrel pup, 
and the schoolroom dog, as well as of many other interesting canine friends. 

Stories to Read or Tell, by Laura Claire Foucher. 

The author of this collection is one of the Children's Librarians at the 
New York Public Library, and this is a very good collection of myths, 
legends, fairy tales, fables and folk lore; fully illustrated. 

Stories to Tell to Children, by Sara Cone Bryant. 

A collection of simple stories and folk tales, chosen from many 
sources, and adapted by the author in response to many requests from 
teachers and mothers. Miss Bryant's wide experience with children as 
well as adults gives her a wide knowledge as to what stories are well 
adapted to meet the needs of many people. The retelling has the virtue 
of simplicity. 

Story Hour Courses for Children from Greek Myths, The Iliad and the 
Odyssey. 

Tales of Laughter, by Kate Douglas Wiggin and Nora D. Smith. 

A comprehensive collection of laughable tales gathered from well 
known sources and from out of the way places. 

Tales of Wonder, by Kate Douglas Wiggin and Nora D. Smith. 

The tales in this book are of many kinds of wonder, of black magic, 
white magic, and grey, ranging from the recital of strange and superhuman 
deeds and experiences to those that foreshadow modern conquests of nature 
and those that utilize the marvelous to teach a moral lesson. 

These two are uniform with the "Fairy Ring" and "Magic Casements" 
in "Crimson Classics." 

Thirty More Famous Stories Retold, by James Baldwin. 

Somewhat more advanced than "Fifty Famous Stories Retold," which 
were intended for very young children. 

Uncle Remus: His Songs and Sayings, by Joel Chandler Harris. 

Wonder Book for Boys and Girls, by Nathaniel Hawthorne. 

Our great American novelist possesses a peculiar charm as a story- 
teller. When his imagination plays about a character or a story, it trans- 
forms it into a new creation. This is true in Hawthorne's retelling of the 
old Greek Myths in "The Wonder Book." The adaptation is both beautiful 
and picturesque, and his touch gives a fantasy and delicacy of interpretation 
found in no other collection. The story of Pandora is told with exquisite 
poetic power, and the narrative of Bellerophon, the Winged Horse, is 
delightful in its suggestions of freedom. The Miraculous Pitcher is one 
of the immortals in English literature in its tender portrayal of the kind 
old people Bancis and Philemon. 

21 



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■\^ 



BIBLE STORIES. 

A Book of the Christ Child, by Eleanor Hammond Broadus. 

A group of legends of the Christ Child from many sources, interwoven 
with ancient verses and illustrations from the masters. The stories are 
beautifully told and, while not collected for the purpose of religious 
instruction, they are full of spiritual symbolism which little children can 
deeply feel even if they cannot understand. 

The Castle of Zion, by George Hodges. 

This is a collection of the best Old Testament stories told with the 
same simplicity and vigor as the New Testament stories by the same 
author in the book entitled "When the King Came." This collection will 
be of especial interest to young children who are for the first time reading 
and becoming acquainted with the great Bible stories. 

Child's Christ Tales, by Andrea Hofer Proudfoot. 

This little book contains a collection of pretty stories and poems about 
religious subjects suitable for children, and it is illustrated with copies of 
famous paintings of the Christ Child. 

The Christ Story, by Eva May Tappan. 

The retelling of the Christ story is very beautiful. The narrative is ' 
natural, and the author tells the story of Jesus as she would tell it of any 
great man, and lets the Christ life make its own high appeal. The setting 
as to customs, environment, characters is vivid and picturesque. The book 
is well adapted to boys and girls 12 to 14, especially in the story-telling, 
because it gives the rich background without really touching the original 
beauty of the Bible story of the Christ. 

New Testament Stories Children Love, by Charles Welsh. 
Arranged and graded for children from 3 to 17. 

An Old, Old Story Book, by Eva May Tappan. 

This book is not an attempt to bring down the Scriptures to children. 
It is simply a collection of Old Testament stories, given in the words of 
the Bible, but arranged like other books in paragraphs rather than in verses. 
It is the Bible story in its original setting with the wise elimination of the 
parts not suited to the interest or welfare of young people. It is the best 
possible sort of an adaptation which can be made for Bible stories. 

Saints and Heroes, by George Hodges. 

Stories from the Old Testament for Children, by H. S. B. Beale. 

This is a strong and simple narrative of the Bible, using very largely 
the Bible language. It is profusely illustrated with colored pictures. 

Tell Me a True Story, by Mary Stewart. 

Bible stories for the children told by a gifted story-teller. Dr. Henry 
Van Dyke says: "This little book does a useful and much needed thing 
in a simple and beautiful way. It is written for children by one who 
understands and loves them. It brings the spirit and meaning of Chris- 
tianity down, or I should rather say up, to their level. It is not only plain 
in its language, but clear and natural in its thought and feeling." 

When the King Came, by George Hodges. 

On account of its simple, picturesque style, its pure and beautiful 
English, and its reverent attitude, this story of the life of Jesus for young 
people is to be most highly commended. The author's endeavor is to 
follow the order of the Gospel harmony, and to approach as far as possible 
the Scripture attitude and language. 

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